Boardsweeps, Mass Removals and Wraths
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on July 25, 2014, 8:20 a.m. by The_New_Guy
What are the best Boardsweeps, Mass Removals and/or Wraths available to izzet colours?
Gidgetimer says... #3
Red to my knowledge only has damage based mass removal for creatures so you are looking at Anger of the Gods , Blasphemous Act , Ashling the Pilgrim , and Mizzium Mortars or just plain bad mass removal like Breaking Point .
Blue has some interesting mass bounce like Ætherspouts , Scourge of Fleets , and Cyclonic Rift .
(Aetherpouts still isn't fixed in the system by the way for any admins or upgraded users reading this.)
July 25, 2014 8:49 a.m.
Kage-no-Raito says... #4
AEtherize , Ætherspouts , Blasphemous Act , Jokulhaups , overloaded Mizzium Mortars ...just to name a few I run in those colors
July 25, 2014 8:53 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #5
you should maybe also consider the obvious colorless ones like Oblivion Stone , All Is Dust and the new vault.
July 25, 2014 9 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #6
Um. It's a nice spell, but it's far from being the best sweeper available to Izzet in EDH. Plus, it doesn't actually take anything off of the board.
Let's start with the colorless sweepers that are available to everyone. Nevinyrral's Disk , Perilous Vault , and All Is Dust . Not a fan of that last one because it falls flat against artifact decks (and you have Vandalblast , Shattering Spree , and Shatterstorm for those). You've also got Engineered Explosives and Ratchet Bomb more more fine-tuned mass removal.
Blue isn't big into mass sweepers, but it has a few options. Illusionist's Gambit isn't even a sweeper. It's more of a weird damage redirect that has a global effect. But in terms of getting things off the board in blue, you've got Cyclonic Rift and Wash Out . Budget-wise, there's also AEtherize that could do in a pinch. Echoing Truth is great against token armies. But that's about all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure blue has more than that.
Don't even get me started for red, dude. Red has tons of ways to enact mass removal. There's the obvious over-the-top spells like Obliterate or Decree of Annihilation that just blow up almost everything. Don't bother with the Izzet guild classic Mizzium Mortars because 4 damage just isn't enough in EDH. Blasphemous Act is good. My personal preference is for spells with split second, so Molten Disaster is good. If you have a big mana pool (and you probably will b/c it's EDH), Bonfire of the Damned , Starstorm , Comet Storm , and Sudden Demise are solid. There's also Flame Wave which is good if you have damage doublers like Fire Servant , Furnace of Rath , or Dictate of the Twin Gods in play. There are also red creatures like Balefire Dragon and Scourge of Kher Ridges that act as good sweeper creatures.
As a red commander, Jaya Ballard, Task Mage can sweep the board over and over again. I built a deck around her. Handing her something like Sword of Kaldra means mass exile for all when she uses her third ability. It's fun.
But you're playing Izzet. I've given you a few of what I deem to be most playable in EDH as far as sweepers in your colors are concerned. Good luck and happy deck building!
July 25, 2014 9:12 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #7
For reference, my initial sentence was referencing Boza's comment about Illusionist's Gambit .
July 25, 2014 9:14 a.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #8
I don't think anyone has mentioned Apocalypse yet. Since Worldfire is banned in Commander, it's the closest thing red can come to a complete board reset.
July 25, 2014 10:39 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #9
There is also Chain Reaction for red, and Devastation Tide if you're desperate in blue.
I like Chain Reaction
but its ridiculously conditional. At least Blasphemous Act
always hits for the same amount of damage. If you're facing tokens, or even Mayael the Anima
(sans Avacyn) it will likely be pretty decent though.
July 25, 2014 10:42 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #10
Ouch @ Apocalypse . Five mana to put yourself in top deck mode with no permanents? It doesn't seem like the game would be fun after that.
July 25, 2014 10:43 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #11
Apocalypse is very annoying if you don't have a game plan that takes it into account. It usually boils down to "I'm not winning so I'll just draw the game out". Sunder is kind of similarly annoying.
Blue stuff nobody mentioned yet: Evacuation , Devastation Tide
Steel Hellkite is not bad either and can hurt a lot of things at once, depending on the circumstances.
July 25, 2014 11:07 a.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #12
Haha yeah Apocalypse can suck. I've actually played it and have come back to win. It's actually not a bad card in aggro decks, because if you don't win quick and then get behind you're probably not going to win. Of course, there are better cards to play, I think, in most decks.
July 25, 2014 11:42 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #13
Ugh, Apocalypse seems like a table-flipper. Love it.
July 25, 2014 12:34 p.m.
Apocalypse could work well with something like Necropotence . Exile the top seven cards, slam down Apocalypse , and put 7 into your hand. Not for Izzet though, but I might add that to my deck Olivia Voldaren Sucks - Literally
July 27, 2014 4:34 p.m.
UpsetYoMama says... #15
SpaderAce, that sounds like a really nasty combo! People would be raging for sure.
Boza says... #2
Illusionist's Gambit is by far the best in terms of cost/effectiveness.
July 25, 2014 8:39 a.m.